Population by Race and Latino Origin in Massachusetts*

According to U.S. Census Bureau estimates, the total population of Massachusetts dropped slightly (2.3%) from 2000 to 2004. The population of whites also dropped 2.9% during this period. On the other hand, the population of Asian Americans, Latinos and African Americans all increased. Asian Americans are growing at the fastest rate of racial/ethnic group of those listed, increasing by an estimated 19.1% from 2000 to 2004.

	2000	2004 estimate	Margin of error +/-	% of total population (using estimate)	% change since 2000 (using estimate)
Asian American	238,124	283,635	8,804	4.6%	19.1%
White	5,367,286	5,211,745	24,785	84.0%	-2.9%
Latino	428,729	478,929	*****	7.7%	11.7%
Black or African American	343,454	373,729	13,253	6.0%	8.8%
TOTAL	6,349,097	6,201,416	*****		-2.3%

*Population groups under 250,000 not listed.

Source: 2004 American Community Survey.